


Photograph

by orphan_account



Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance
Genre: College frerard, I dont know what to tag so I will add more later, M/M, fluff!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-05
Updated: 2016-02-05
Packaged: 2018-05-18 09:45:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5923843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He was not stalking gerard!  He was just taking a photograph. </p><p>He did not think gerard was hot! He was  Just...... aesthetically pleasing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. "It's called a candid, genius."

Frank didn't think his day could go any worse until he got caught 'spying' on some boy. In his defence he wasn't spying he was taking a picture.

"Without the knowledge of the person in said picture!" The boy had argued.

"It's called a candid, genius," Frank had snapped back, though he did feel rather guilty for taking the picture, even if it was one of the best ones he had taken in months. 

"Fine, delete it and get the fuck away from me" He ducked his head and went back to the tree to continue drawing whatever mysterious thing it was hidden in his notebook. 

If frank didn't know any better he would have taken another shot at getting a picture but instead he walked away to edit the one he had managed to take before he had been caught. There was no way he was deleting it it was such a beautiful picture. 

When he got back to his room Ray was already there which kind of made frank feel worse because he knew that he would tease the crap about his earlier conversation with Mr. Grumpy Git. He thought about just not telling him but he never keeps secrets about anything why start now.

After explaining in as little detail as possible he was facing a frizzy haired boy who would not stop laughing

"Dude that's the funniest thing I have heard all day"  
He said in between breaths. Frank frowned, sure, it was laughable but it that funny.

"Dude stop laughing." He said with a scowl. "It isn't funny."

"No, it is totally funny. I need to call Mikey. Oh my god" Ray proceeded to take his phone out of his back pocket and was, presumably ready to call 'Mikey'.

"Dude, no I don't even know him. He's your friend n-"

"Mikey is your brother home?" Ray paused for a minute waiting for his reply. Frank was officially confused, what did his brother have to do with this?

"Great put your phone on speaker" 

"Ok, it's in speaker, what's up?" Mikey's voice rang out, Ray had put his on loud speaker too and frank groaned, catching on to what was going on.

Please don't say that boy was Mikey's brother.

"My roommate got caught stalking your brother" Ray spoke, not taking any attempt to hide his amusement. Well, shit.

"Look," He interrupted " I was not stalking I was taking a picture of him"

Three voices came at him at once, Ray, Mikey and who frank could only assume, was the boy in the picture.

All of them had asked some sort of variation of 'Why?' And frank didn't know what to say. He took it because it looked beautiful and with a bit of editing it would be the perfect picture. 

"It- he looked" like a god frank thought with a blush. "Aesthetically Pleasing" He said instead.

"Frank, please say you don't think I'm hot." Mikey's brother asked.

"No! God I don't! Think your hot, that is!" Sure frank was telling a massive lie considering he thought the boy was exceptionally hot but what he doesn't no won't hurt him.

Ray and Mikey protested but frank stuck to his word. The boy in the picture stayed quiet. Frank zoned out after a while and eventually he didn't hear Mikey anymore. 

He decided not to edit the picture after all. Not now he was 'friends' With the boy's brother. Though it was very tempting. He looked at the picture again to see if it was worth editing It even if no one would see. 

The boy was sat against a crook In the tree. Clearly in deep concentration. His tongue was slightly visible at the corner of his mouth and his eyes were drawn down to the sketchpad in front of him. His hair was a dark black and it flopped over his forehead messily. You could tell that he cared about his looks in an 'I don't care' way. Ragged and dark seemed to be his style. His hand had a pencil in it and his fingers were quite nice. They were slender and feminine and they gripped the pencil like the world depended on it. His fingertips were pale and soft and frank wished he could touch them. 

With a decent black and white filter the picture would be amazing he wouldn't need to photo shop anything on it would only take 5 minutes to do the colour. Frank shrugged and left the picture. There wasn't any point. The boy, frank really needs to learn his name, obviously didn't want him to use the picture for anything so he wouldn't. Simple as that.

"Hello- frank- you coming?" His head snapped up. He hadn't realised Ray had been talking and he definitely didn't remember agreeing on going somewhere.

"What, where?" He asked, a confused frown curled on his lips. 

"The diner. There's a party tonight to me and Mikey are going while It's empty."

"No! Absolutely not!" He protested. Why would he meet the brother of the person who he had 'stalked'? 

"He isn't going to bring up the fact you have a crush on his brother." Ray said, it would have been rather convincing for someone who didn't live wig the boy. 

After 10 minutes of protesting denying and pleading frank had agreed to go albeit reluctantly. He knew that the frizzy haired guy was hiding something about this trip to the diner. Frank was ready to run in case something happened.

\------------------

Soon the three boys where sat around a table In the 90's themed diner and frank had not made eye contact either Mikey in fear of him figuring out anything about his brother. Apparently Mikeyway doesn't need eye contact to read someone's mind.  
"So.... Frank, my brother?" He said in in a much more suggestive voice than frank would have liked. He groaned and went to shake his head.

"Ray you promised that he wouldn't talk about it," He said adding a glare at the boy. He was laughing now and frank groaned louder and looked back at Mikey.

"I don't have a crush on your brother, "  
"You said he was hot," Mikey exclaimed a little too loud. 

"I said aesthetically pleasing," Frank retorted.  
Mikey looked down at his hand as if checking a watch and snorted. Writing was there is black ink and you didn't have to be a genius to work out what it was. 

"Aesthetic is used to talk about beauty or art, and people's appreciation of beautiful things. So sure, not hot. Beautiful," Mikey read out, mockingly, breathing the last word as though it was a poem. Frank clenched his jaw and glared at him.

"Fine." He sighed "I give up. Your brother is hot, okay?" Defeated, he looked away and his eyes met- oh shit. Oh fuck no, this is not happening.

"Ah Gerard, nice of you to join us." Mikey said, or Ray, Frank didn't know or care.

Without another word to anybody, frank stood up and left the diner, hoping he would never have to look him in the eye again.


	2. "Well...This is awkward."

Gerard sighed as he walked into his drawing class, they were sharing with an advanced photography class for the next two months for some kind of joint project that they would be introduced to today.

_Frank will be there_ , Gerard thought with a scoff. It had been a month now and he really ought to let it go, but he just couldn't he wouldn't.

He pushed the door open and scowled at the group of students already gathered at one of the worn out art tables. The class was cramped together with two extra tables showed into the room. Both advanced classes were small (14 people in advanced photography and only 8 in art) but it seemed that only half of the photography students would be there.

_Good_ , he though _t maybe frank won't be here after all._

But Gerard never was a lucky one and soon enough frank was pushing open the doors to the classroom, turning pink in the cheeks when his eyes landed on the seat next to Gerard. (Gerard covered the seat immediately by inviting a perky younger looking kid who introduced himself as 'Brendon! Brendon Urie.')

Once everybody was present and seated the photography teacher,  Gerard didn't have a clue what her name was, stood up and addressed the class as 'advanced media'

"As you all know this class with run for eight weeks and you will be working in pairs. The project will be based on a study on how your opinion on someone changes the way you present them in your work. After we have given out your pairs we expect you and your partner to discuss times to meet up and draw your partner and have a photo shoot with them. Please don't get to know each other before the photographs have been taken and edited and the pictures have been drawn."

The art teacher stepped up  and began calling out partners, checking each one didn't know anything about each other before they moved to discuss drawing and photography dates. Gerard had zoned out until his name was called.   
"Frank Iero and Gerard Way"  
His head snapped up, his black hair shuffling across his forehead as he blinked at the teacher in front of him.

"Uh." Frank said quietly "We can't work together. We know each other."

"Oh right. You can work with..." He paused shuffling through the list of students.

"They don't know anything about each other, sir, they met each other once. That's it."

"Thanks, Ray" Gerard and Frank snarled at once. It was okay for him. Ray was paired up with Pete wentz who was actually an okay guy. Gerard might cry if he had to get to know Frank for a whole eight weeks. Frank might cry if he had to take more pictures of Gerard, last time didn't go so well, did it?  
"Ah thank you Ray, Gerard you shall work with Frank Iero," He said, though he pronounced ' Iero' more aireo which annoyed Frank to no end.

He glared at the art teacher as he shuffled out of his seat at one of the new tables to join gerard at his.

"Sorry," Frank muttered, "about Ray"

Gerard could have hit him just for even being within two feet of his personal space but instead he scowled for the millionth time that day. He took a piece of paper from his sketch pad and wrote his phone number in it as well as his student apartment number. He slid it along to Frank, who sighed and ripped the paper in half, writing his own apartment number on the other piece.

\---

Frank eyed the paper warily as though it was a trap that gerard had planted on him. What if it was a fake number? Or the apartment number wasn't actually his? He was freaking out way to much about this. Maybe he should just text him. It is for school after all its not like they were planning a date.

**_Hey it's Frank. We need to set a time to do the photoshoot and stuff_**.

He typed, it sounded about right. There wasn't anything rude or awkward or referencing the photo incident last month. He clicked send and lay back on his bed waiting for a reply. Which came about 15 minutes after.

**_From: Gerard_ **   
**_Right. I need a time to draw you and why can't you just use that photo from last month?_ **

_**To:Gerard** _   
_**I can't use that photo. It's a good picture and that's not what the instructors want. I'm free Friday?** _

**_From: Gerard_ **

**_Sure thing._ **

Great. One word replies already, well, almost one word.   
Frank sighed and dropped his phone onto the bed before dragging out his camera and and laptop to edit some pictures for his latest assignment. A boring one at that. The pictures had taken no more thank 10 minutes to take and editing them would be easy. He needed something to distract himself from the new project with gerard. How would he get to know someone who hated him?

"Persistence." Ray had said when he asked for the frizzy haired boy's advice. 

"That doesn't help at all. Of course I'm going to be persistent. I need help with getting him to like me faster." That conversation ended better than expected, however, due to Ray suggesting that I hang out with him and Mikey -and Pete who according to Ray was head over heels for Mikey- sometime to get in gerard a good books.

This might not be so bad after all frank thought getting into bed that night. The hardest part about it would be getting pictures of Gerard as the start the don't look perfect already. The Angle of the 'stalking' photograph (that's what they were calling it now) had already made gerard look amazing and making him look any better would be hard. He was determined though. He would make gerard way like him If it was the last thing he ever did.

 


	3. "You're wearing jeans tighter than my asshole!"

When Friday rolled around Frank was riddled with worry. Whilst he was aware today he would be meeting Gerard he didn't have a clue where or what time. He was up early, 7am, just in case gerard was an early riser. He didn't want to text him either, what if he thought Frank was being too keen. No. He would wait until 9 o'clock and if gerard hasn't texted him asking for a time then he would.

He showered and got dressed in a black band shirt and skinny jeans and was lost with what to do with the remaining time. Ray wasn't awake, he doesn't wake up before 2pm, it's a rule inside his head. So.. what does he do now? He attempts to mentally make a list of what he has to do but he had finished all of his work while distracting himself from the picture of gerard and how much he longed to edit it. It couldn't hurt right?

He makes his way over to his laptop, cautious as though someone might see him. When he opens it up he finds the picture hidden in a folder where no one would find it (it was in a folder labeled 'private' and mixed with porn and drafted poetry.)

Browsing through the filters on his apps he finally decides on a black and white one with lots of contrast that makes his eyes look beautiful. He applies it to the picture and scans it for any imperfections but finds none, there where a few spots here and there and a cute freckle on his nose but no blemishes that frank would take away.

He's wasted enough Time now. It's was almost 9 o'clock and the picture was finished all he had to do now was put the picture back in his 'porn/poetry/gerard' folder and pack his camera equipment.

Luckily he doesn't have to text gerard due to a text that comes in at precisely 8:57am saying:

**Do you want to meet in me and Mikey's apartment or the coffee shop on campus? We could do the photoshoot by the wall outside.**

Frank confirms the coffee shop and ask what time he wants to meet to which he quickly replies.

**Now.**

\--

The coffee shop is tiny yet filled with students stopping of before their lessons or lectures. Frank sits down in the least crowded corner. It's noisy and fill of chatter and frank can barely hear himself think over the buzzing of social students. What he does hear, however, is a chair being pulled out in front of him and his head snaps up to see gerard, in skinny jeans and plain black top that, if he's being honest, clashes with his hair. Frank nods approvingly at the outfit, it would work well in contrast to the pale mint green of the wall of the coffee shop.

"Hi." He says, almost timidly. Frank lifts his hand and waves awkwardly at him as he takes a seat.

"Hi." He says back to the boy. "Do you want a coffee?" He asks. Frank already brought one when he came in, it tasted like shit and was watery as fuck and honestly he only just had enough money to pay for another one, but he felt rude not asking. Gerard refused it anyway so he didn't lose anything really.

After about two minutes of not really speaking Gerard cleared his throat and pulled a sketchpad out of his bag.

"Can I- Uh I need to draw you so.." Frank nod at his request and shifts In his seat slightly to get more comfortable.

"You think you can stay like that for ten/twenty minutes?" He asks, Frank nods again, realising he have barely spoken to him this entire time but countering the fact that it's too late to start now.

After a while the buzz around them dies down and only the two boys and three other students are left in the shop, not including the staff. You can only really hear the radio, quiet and faded in the background singing some pop song on the charts, the three boys occasional scrape of cutlery against plates and loudest of all gerards pencil scratching on thick artist paper while he shades in the contours of franks face.

"I'm almost done," he mutters. Frank turns to face him to take a peek at the drawing but he's holding it up, angled against the table. "I need to finish your eyes, keep looking at me, please?"

He doesn't reply, just stares at him him, perhaps admiring the way gerards eyes flicker up to meet with his ever few seconds or maybe staring at his hand, obsessed with the was his fingers grip the pencil like a professional, either way he stares way longer than he needs to.

"I'm done," He says, so quiet frank almost doesn't hear him.

"Can I see?" Gerard chuckles slightly as if the thought is ridiculous.

"Are you gonna show me your pictures?" He gets it now, why the thought of him showing someone his art is so absurd. He wouldn't show him his photographs, they were his art. As drawing was gerards.

"Oh." Frank says, pathetically. "Do you wanna- Uh, I mean, I need to do my thing." He smiles at gerard and grabs his bag from the floor beside him. Beckoning the shorter boy out of his seat, Gerard leaves the coffee show with him.

It's freezing outside. As you would have expected, it is October after all. Frank shivers visibly as he takes my camera equipment out of his bag.

"I'm going to do some without the tripod first, you know, get some close ups." he say. It's the most he's spoken from this entire meeting, he's more in my comfort zone now. Just Him, his camera, and a beautiful boy.

"How do you want me?" Gerard asks. And frank snaps his head up so fast he almost gets whiplash.

"Uh-" he starts unsure of how to respond to that question despite its more than innocent context. His scan my eyes over his body to figure out how to best capture him and comes back clueless.

"However you feel comfortable." He say with a smile which gerard almost certainly didn't return. He still hates him.

He leans against the wall and frank get in position to begin taking pictures. Gerards shoulder is leant against the wall whilst his back casts a shadow on his left side. His legs are slightly crossed below the knee somehow.

"How are you even able to walk in those?" Frank asks suddenly. He looks down at his trousers with a frown and then back at frank.

"What do you mean?"

"You're wearing jeans tighter than my asshole!" Frank exclaims, which may not have been his best wording despite the fact it's true. Gerard shakes his head at the boy, grimacing as he does.

"I can't think of any possible situation in which I would want to know the tightness of your asshole." He says with a chuckle, not a friendly chuckle more a 'I don't like you whatsoever' chuckle. Frank laugh along with him anyway and continues taking pictures of him though the aura of them had changed immensely and gone from "indifference" to pure hatred.

After a while gerard pulls a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket. He gestures to them, wordlessly asking if he could smoke. Though he lights it up and takes a drag before frank could even think about saying no.

"Only if you give me one." He scoffs at that so the shorter boy stops taking pictures crossing his arms over his chest defiantly. Gerard sighs before picking another thin stick out of the packet.

He smirks at him tauntingly.  
"Only if you can reach it." He lifts one arm above his head, the cigarette with it. Frank wants to scream at him but instead walks over and attempts to jump and reach it with no luck. He only stop once Gerard's cigarette, the one lit and in his mouth, almost burns franks eye off. And suddenly, as though the gods have come to visit, he gets an Idea. Frank plucks the lit cigarette, the one _in Gerard's mouth_ out from between is lips and into his own. He inhales deeply, letting the sweet chemicals burn his lungs. Frank nods at the older boy through fluffy strands of hair that have fallen out of place from jumping and blows the smoke out in his face because apparently he's fearless.

"Thanks" Frank mutter, walking back to his camera while Gerard pulls himself together from his state of...confusion?

He only take a few more pictures of him after that before they decide to call it a day. Gerard is fed up and the sky looks grey and gloomy, the bad mood was beginning to rub of on Frank of all people.

Getting into bed that night gerard smiles softly to himself remembering the warm breath of the cute punk kid that tumbled onto his lips hours ago.


	4. "You're channeling the spirit of a ten year old girl who loves torture?"

He doesn't see Gerard again until Ray invites him out to the diner with his project partner and Mikey four days later. He knew Gerard would be there but Frank didn't know how to expect him to act with him. Maybe he was okay with him after the beginning of the project? Yeah, right. 

When he gets to the diner his worry only grows, there was going to be at least five people and he hadn't met Pete yet. What if everyone, except Ray, hates him? Mikey seemed okay, but what if he was just being nice because Ray was his friend? 

He walks in, Ray by his side and walks over to the back where he can see three boys (Mikey, Gerard and assumably Pete.) 

"Hey, Guys." Ray says when he sits down. Frank pulls out the chair to the side and tries not to make eye contact with anyone. He is introduced to Pete who seems to be reasonably nice and very hyper. And Mikey, again, who remains quiet as he always has the few times he had met him. He goes to greet Gerard, still unsure on whether it is a good idea, but stops when he's met with a glare. Frank raises his arms defensively and Pete, the fucker, actually laughs at the tense scene playing out before them. 

"Okay right, so now we all know each other? Okay cool. I'm gonna get coffee, uh anyone want one?" Mikey says trying to get away from his angry brother and angsty Frank.

"I'll come!" Pete chirps, straightening up and pushing his chair in the the table. Frank gives Ray a pleading look complete with his bottom lip jutting out in a pout but the frizzy haired boy stands up and leaves with the others. 

"Fuck!" Frank curses, leaning back in his chair and running his hands down his face. He hears Gerard mutter something but ignores him in attempt to dispel the awkwardness between them. Maybe he should say something, but what? Gerard still hates him, at least frank thinks he does.

"Do you hate me?" He asks suddenly. Gerards head snaps up and he stares for a long time. And carries on staring. A chair is pulled out beside them. He carries on staring. A hand shakes Gerard's shoulder. He carries on staring. 

"Gee, I got you coffee." A voice said. Gerard turns his head thoughtfully towards the voice, Mikey, who was holding out a coffee towards him. Frank breaths out a breath he didn't know he was holding and relaxes back down into his seat. When Ray gets back he hands Frank a coffee which he takes quickly from his hands. He almost drops the burning hot travel cup as soon as it transfers from Ray's hands to his own. The first thought that goes through Frank's head is holy mother fuck, that's hot and the second is why the fuck is this in a travel cup? So he turns to Mikey and says,

"Why the fuck is this in a travel cup?" Mikey looks down, Pete grins wildly, Ray moves slightly away from Frank. Frank raises his eyes in search of an answer meeting Gerard own searching eyes for a moment or two. Pete is the one who finally speaks up, shit eating grin still attached to his face.

"Mikey," He starts, gesturing to the lanky boy,"decided that because of our project we should all have a movie night! Didn't Ray tell you? " Franks face turns stony as he turns to glare at Ray and then, in turn, Mikey.

"No he didn't tell me." He says coldly. Ray lifts hands up and tells Frank how truly sorry he is and eventually Frank sighs and gives in to the 'movie night'. He goes to ask Mikey when they are going but finds Mikey and Gerard staring at each other. 

"Are- are they talking with their eyes?" Pete asks in awe. Ray nods unfazed as he gathers up his coffee and bag of food for tonight. Frank moves closer to Pete and watches the Way Brothers with the same expression on his face. 

"I don't get it.." Frank says slowly, "They're just staring at each other and raising their eyebrows." Pete nods in agreement and watches the Eye Argument finish up. Gerard seems to slump his shoulders back in surrender and Mikey's wearing a smug smirk.

"Let's go!" Ray hollers. He grabs Frank's camera bag and passes it to his friend to snap him out of his trance. 

They make their way to Mikey and Gerard's apartment. It's not actually a student one, it's got two bedrooms and a joined kitchen and lounge area but it is paid for by the school on some kind of mental health condition. 

As soon as they get to the apartment the group spread out. Ray jumps onto the sofa and gets comfortable as possible as Mikey goes over to a pile of films in the corner of the room. Gerard goes to make popcorn and more coffee leaving Pete and Frank to stare at the huge living space in front of them. 

"Right we have.... a few horrors or.. cheesy classic comedy horror things?" Mikey says, picking a few up from the pile. Gerard perks up from the kitchen. 

"The Addams Family! Please, Mikes!" He begs. Mikey scowls at the dvd in his hands but puts it on the television stand anyway. 

"Okay any other requests?" Frank thinks about it. He'd like to watch a horror but in a room with Gerard? Hell no. 

"Anything but horror." He requests. Gerard looks at him weirdly, almost offended.

"You don't like horror?" He asks incredulously. "Why not?"

Frank shakes his head at him. "I love horror I just.. watching it with other people? Really?" He doesn't get the point and gestures for Frank to continue. "Besides I think Pete and Mikey would end up jumping into each others arms at all the scary bits." He stage whispers. Pete grins but Mikey sends a death glare from where he is standing. If looks could kill. 

"Right so we're going with cheesy classic horror comedy's?" Mikey checks, holding up beetlejuice. Frank's face lights up and everyone seems content with the movie choice. Mikey sets the film up and everyone goes to the sofa.

Frank doesn't know whether to sit like Ray or if it would be rude to get so comfortable in sombosy else's house so he settles with sitting on Ray. He snuggles with him as he usually does on movie nights and Ray holds him happily as the beggining credits start rolling.

"Oh its like that then, Ray." Gerard says when he walks in with two popcorn bowls. Frank look up to see Gerard glaring down at him spitefully.

"It isn't like anything me and Frank are just friends." Franks eyebrows rise at Rays words and at the implication that anyone thought they were more.

"Of course you are." He grumbles. Frank sighs quizzically and turns his eyes to the beginning of beetlejuice.

Mikey shares popcorn with Pete and Frank and Ray share a bowl whilst Gerard takes from both, it works suprisingly well and no one fights over popcorn. Until Frank feels sick and doesn't want the bowl on him anymore so he pushes it closer to Gerard, who pushes it closer him so he pushes it back to gerard who pu-

"Enough fighting!" Ray snaps and their eyes divert guiltily to the movie. 

The movie is pretty uneventful after that, filled with awkward laughs at the funny parts and giggling through the entire thing with frank supposes just happens to sound like Mikeyway and Pete.

"Okay next film," Gerard announces with a clap. "Drum roll please."

The group roll their eyes but slap their hands on the dusty sofa in feigned anticipation for the next film.

"The Addams family!" He announces, grinning. Faux gasps are heard all around and Gerard sighs dramatically whispering 'killjoys' under his breath.

Its all but four minutes into the film where gerard decides to start a running commentary, saying useless things about the plot mistakes and which of the characters he likes best. A few times the boys talked back but mostly they kept quiet and let him get on with it. 

"Wednesday is so cool, I wish I was like her when I was younger. I swear I'm channelling her spirit." Mikey's head snaps around as does the rest of the room.

"You're channeling the spirit of a ten year old girl who loves torture?" Ray asks.

"Who loves torturing her brother. " Mikey points out. But gerard swiftly ignores him and begins stating everything he has in common with her. 

'What a fucking dork' Frank thinks.


End file.
